It was a unique life experience where I knew something really difficult was about to happen.

There wasn’t much I could do to prepare other than plead for heavenly assistance.

I joined my voice with David when he said:

“Draw nigh unto my soul”. (Psalms 69:18)

I quite literally said in prayer, “I’m going to need Your strength a lot more. I need You closer to me.”

I put the responsibility on the Lord.

He needed to come closer to me to help support me through this tough time, right?

The Spirit often speaks to me by putting whole sentences or phrases right in my mind.

The response I immediately got was:

“I’m already here. You know what you need to do to draw more of My power into your life.”

It was exactly the message that I needed to hear.

How do we get Jesus to draw closer to us?

We draw closer to Him.

Since that moment, I’ve tried to make the Savior an even higher priority in my life.

I’ve tried to make more time for Him, I’ve tried to speak with Him more, and I’ve tried to speak about Him more.

I’ve drawn closer to Him, even though it’s seemed like He has drawn closer to me.

And other times, I’ve forgotten.

I’ve thought, “Where is He? Why do I feel so out of touch?”

And then I remember.

Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are certainly not out of touch with me.

As a caveat, I do fully believe that the Lord can send extra measures of His Spirit when we are in need, and I don’t believe that we can force spiritual experiences by our actions.

God is divine and can do according to His desires.

But I needed the gentle but firm reminder that day that when I’m hoping that God will come closer to me, there’s usually only one of us who is actually being distant.

It’s on me, with righteous and pure intent, to seek Him out.

To stretch out my hand to accept His help that’s been there all along.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post How to get the Lord to draw nearer  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.