Come near to God

“Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:8 NIV)

Want God to be near to you?

Notice the order of things described in this promise. It tells YOU to come near to God, and then, if you do, He will come near to you!

Many Christians have it backwards!

They spend a lot of time asking God to “come” to “bless” them, and to “hear their prayers,” when He has already made these things, and so much more, freely available to “whosoever” will simply reach out to Him and receive them by faith!

Come boldly 

The Bible says to “come boldly” to God to receive what you need. (Heb. 4:16) Another passage says to “seek Him first” and then, all that you need “will be added to you”. (Matt. 6:33) Notice, in each verse, you are instructed to take the initiative. And, that’s because God has already done His part! Notice that the following passage states that He “has” given us “everything”. 

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV)

You just need to believe and act with faith!

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Heb. 11:16 ESV)

Therefore…

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13 ESV)

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” (Prov. 8:17 ESV)

Mike Frenchbible promises, come near to god, come boldly to god, seek god first
God has given you complete assurance!

“I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Tim. 1:12 KJV)

This a great assurance passage

Many Christians don’t know for sure that they are saved! They only hope they are. That’s unfortunate because the Bible says, “These things I have written to you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13 NKJV) 

We must never be in doubt about our salvation! 

The price Jesus paid for us was more than sufficient! 

The following is 2 Tim. 1:12 defined with some supportive Scriptures added. I have taken each part of the passage and laid it out, word-by-word, and defined each part of it. Read through each part carefully to understand what it means to be fully assured of where you stand with God. There is absolutely no need to doubt!

  • “I know” – aware through observation, inquiry, or information. “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16 NKJV)

  • “whom” – which is Jesus: “Son of God” (John 3:16),”the Name above all Names” (Phil 2:19), the one who “Holds all things together and by Him all things exist” (Col. 1:17).

  • “I believed” – personally accepted as true, genuine, and real. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9 KJV)

  • “and am persuaded” – totally convinced with no doubt. “And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Rom. 4:21 KJV)

  • “that He is able” – He has the authority and power to do it! “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’.” (Matt. 28:18 NIV) And, “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. 1:24 KJV)

  • “to keep“ – nobody, or absolutely anything else, for that matter, can take it away from Him! “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:29 NIV)

  • “that” – your spirit, soul and body. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes. 5:23 ESV)

  • “which I’ve committed” –  entrusted for safekeeping. “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.”  (Rom. 6:17 NASB)

  • “unto Him” – to Jesus. “the author and finisher of our faith.” (Heb. 12:2 NKJV)

  • “against that day” – when you die and go to be with the Lord. “After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thes. 4:17 NIV)

Therefore…

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13 ESV)

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 ESV)

Mike Frenchbible promises, complete assurance, assurance
Keep your eye on God and don’t be shaken!

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8 NIV)

I had taken my eyes off of the Lord

When I was first saved many years ago, I struggled with many doubts. Some of it was due to my own personal failures and some of it was because I was looking around at others who were imperfect or worse. Some had failed seriously and publicly. A pastor friend I had greatly respected had been caught in an affair and dramatically removed from his church.

I was an emotional wreck and it showed

Then, one evening, I went to a church meeting featuring a woman evangelist. I didn’t know the speaker was a woman until I was seated in the middle of the audience. I have to admit that I was very prejudiced against women preachers and I wouldn’t have gone to the meeting if I had known. But, there I was, so I just sat and listened to her.

She was delivering her message in a normal speaking voice. Nothing seemed strange or unusual. But suddenly she raised her voice greatly, pointed her finger directly at me and said, “Young man, stand up and listen to me!”

I was startled and embarrassed as I rose slowly to my feet 

She loudly and passionately said, “Get your eyes off of man and back onto God!” Then she lowered her voice and went instantly back to her message as though there hadn’t been an interruption.

I was greatly moved!

How did she know what I was going through at the moment and the exact words to say to me? What she said was exactly what I needed to hear! Therefore, I took it very seriously and did exactly what she said to do as though her words had come from God Himself.

“Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” (Heb. 13:7 ESV)

Therefore…

“Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11 NLT)

Mike Frenchbible promises
Bold as a lion!

“The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Prov. 28:1 NIV)

Flee at once!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as a practical joke, sent an anonymous telegram to several of his friends: “All is discovered. Flee at once!” All of them immediately left the country. Supposedly, all of these friends were upstanding and honorable people by all outward appearances, yet something was obviously going on inside their minds and hearts that was so frightening to them that it caused them to panic and leave the country!

All hearts are wicked!

The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9 NKJV)

It’s because of the sin problem we have all inherited. The Bible says, “there is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10 NKJV). 

Fear is a damaging force

The heart is a place for fear to exist. Fear is a very powerful and damaging force if anyone allows it to have control. It can cause people to totally withdraw and shut down, or even to act strange or irrational. 

There is good news!

The good news is that the heart can be changed by Jesus! (John 8:36) “The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 118:6 NIV)

 You can be bold and control fear!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27b NIV)

And, understand that “the righteous are as bold as a lion.” And yes, that means you!

Therefore…

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13 ESV)

“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,” (2 Cor. 3:12 ES)

“In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.” (Eph. 3:12 ESV

Mike French
God knows all about you and still loves you!

“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!” (Luke 23:34 NKJV)

At Jesus’ most painful and darkest hour, and from the very cross where He was being crucified, He looked beyond what was happening to Himself and focused instead on the needs of others. He asked for forgiveness for them and said something very interesting and powerful, “forgive them for they know not what they do!”

Jesus knew that if they had truly understood who He was, God’s very son, (1 John 4:15 & John 3:16), they would never have attacked Him! He had all the information. He knew why He was there, and what He was there for; “the Lamb of God, willingly laying down His life for the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) This information helped Him to do what was right in spite of how He felt!

Having the right information will help you treat others with kindness and forgiveness

In the same way, knowing that you are a redeemed person (1 Peter 1:18), and knowing that you have been forgiven and bought at the price of Jesus’ death on the cross, (1 Cor. 6:20), and knowing that you are a member of God’s family, (Eph. 2:19), and knowing that you are God’s Ambassador, (2 Cor. 5:20), then you too, can do the right thing as needed, even in difficult or extreme circumstances!

Don’t give evil for evil!

Instead do the very opposite. Be kind to those who are not kind to you. Be polite to those who are rude to you. Be patient to those who are impatient to you. Be loving to those who are unloving to you!

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9 NIV)

Being kind to others helps you, too!

In a study conducted by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychology professor at the University of California, students were assigned the task of doing five random acts of kindness per week for six weeks. At the end of the study, the students’ levels of happiness had increased by 41.66 percent! Being kind to others had a profoundly positive effect on their own level of happiness!

Therefore…

“Do to others as you would have them to do to you.” (Luke6:31 NIV)

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32 ESV)

Quote:

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” - Mark Twain

Mike Frenchbible promises, god knows you, god loves you
A new body!

“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” (2 Cor. 5:1 NLT)

“Remember the Alamo!”

While visiting San Antonio for a conference I was speaking at, Susan and went to see the Alamo. It was a stark reminder of what had happened there during the Texas Revolution, February 23 to March 6, 1836, where so many had died. According to eye witness accounts it was a slaughter with perhaps as many as ten-to-one against those who were garrisoned within the walls of the Alamo. They didn’t have a chance and were brutally and mercilessly destroyed. Santa Anna’s cruelty during the battle outraged and emblazoned great numbers of Texans to rise up with the now famous battle cry, “Remember the Alamo!” and they defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto ending the revolution, on April 21, 1836. The Alamo is now called the “Alamo Shrine” and as you walk through it, you see many displays depicting what had happened during that battle, including lists of names of those who had died there, including Davie Crocket.

All are only temporary here

In the Bible passage at top, we are reminded of several important things.

  • “When we die and leave this earthly body” – All will die someday, some even tragically. As terrible as the Alamo battle was, it is now history! It is an undeniable fact that every single person involved in every aspect of the Texas Revolution is now dead! And it is a stark reminder to us that all people will die. Some tragically, as in the Alamo, some by natural causes, and some for many other reasons. There are no exceptions. The Bible says that everybody will eventually die. (Heb. 9:27)

  • Our new body will be “an eternal body”–  When we die we will get a new body to live in. There will come a day at the appearing of Jesus that our bodies, too, will be transformed and we will then have brand new transformed ones. (2 Cor. 5:3) Everything God creates is perfect and made with absolute excellence! (Psalm 86:8-10)

  • Our new body will be “made for us by God himself and not by human hands” – The body we have now is only temporary, but our resurrected body will be made perfect and will last indefinitely. (1 Corinthians 15:35-58) 

  • Our new body will be “in heaven” –  And, Jesus has prepared a wonderful place in Heaven for you to live.  (John 14:2-4)

To recap:

Someday, we too will be a part of history, because all die and we will too. But, no matter how we die, if we have received Christ (John 1:12), we will receive a brand-new body made by God that will last forever in Heaven! It’s a promise!

Therefore…

“For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” (Rom. 14:8 ESV)

Mike Frenchbible promises, a brand-new body
Take a lesson from the birds of the air

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” (Matt. 6:26 NASB)

Expect God to take care of you, too

God wants you to look at the birds of the air and notice something important about them. They are constantly being fed and taken care of by Him, and you are more important to Him than the birds! Which means, God will supply to you what you need, just as he faithfully does for His birds! Expect God to do what he says He will do, and He will! That is how faith works!

 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  (Phil. 4:19 ESV)

Therefore…

“So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Heb. 13:6 ESV) 

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,” (2 Cor. 3:5 ESV)

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13 ESV)

Quotes:

“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.” – Hudson Taylor

“God has promised to supply all our needs. What we don’t have now, we don’t need now.” – Elisabeth Elliot

Mike Frenchbible promises, birds, birds of the air, god takes care of you, you are valuable
You are being followed!

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6a KJV)

I have a friend who says, “I have two angels following me and I will tell you their names. One’s name is ‘Goodness’ and the other’s name is ‘Mercy.’” Even though my friend says it in a humorous way, it is still very much true! God is all about “goodness and mercy” and he provides loads of it to you!

  • Goodness – God’s goodness and love is abundant, steadfast, and endures forever. 

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!” (Psalm 26:13 ESV)

“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Psalm 31:19 ESV)

“Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 106:1)

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8 ESV)

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum 1:7 ESV)

  • Mercy – God has great mercy that He uses for us. 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV)

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” (Eph. 2:4-5 ESV)

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16 ESV)

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22-23 ESV)

Therefore…

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36 ESV)

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matt. 5:7 ESV)

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10 ESV)

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (Rom. 12:9 ESV)

Mike Frenchbible promises, goodness, mercy, goodness and mercy
Don't be afraid!

“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:4 NLT)

According to the dictionary…

  • Fear is defined as: an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. 

  • Some synonyms for fear: terror, fright, fearfulness, horror, alarm, panic, agitation, trepidation, dread, consternation, dismay, distress.

What are you afraid of?

No matter what you are afraid of, God promises to be there to help you! The good news is that the Bible has a lot to say about fear.  In fact, the Bible says, “don’t be afraid”, 365 times! One for each day of the year! So, if you struggle with fear, you can read and apply one every day!

False Evidence Appearing Real

The above is a well known acrostic using the word FEAR. It states the truth about fear very simply and clearly. Fear is often just a delusion and only exists in your own head. We can easily fear things that we have amplified in our mind and turned into frightening prospects. However, when they are faced with truth and faith, they will disappear.

Therefore…

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Tim. 1:7 ESV)

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4 ESV)

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18 ESV)

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh. 1:9 ESV)

Quotes:

“If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer - His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.” – John Newton

“Seeing that a pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.” – John Calvin

Mike Frenchbible promises, fear, afraid, anxiety, anxiously