Drawing Nearer to God — E.A. Johnston

The Desire to Draw Nearer to God

I believe, friends, that if you desperately want to draw closer to God, He will honor that. There was a time some years back when I hungered for more of God, and I desired to draw nearer to Him in my walk with Him, and how this came about is the essence of my message today.

The Foundational Text in Colossians

The title of my message is Drawing Nearer to God, and my text can be found in Paul's epistle to the Colossians. You can turn in your Bible there now, friends. We will be in chapter 1 and verse 10. Allow me to read us this vital text now.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. I was working on a sermon outline from this verse, and I was sermonizing it, so to speak.

I had put, number one, that walk worthy of the Lord meant to have a close walk of faith, and secondly, all pleasing meant to be obedient to Him, and so on and so on. And then I put my pen down and I asked God to show me what He wanted to teach me from this verse, how He wanted to reveal Himself to me more fully through His own declarations of Himself.

So I tore up that sermon, and I decided to get serious with my God and enter a closer walk with Him. Over the next four days, I wrestled with God over this one verse. I felt God had something very important to tell me about His Word, and it turned out He had four things He wanted to reveal to me through Colossians 1 .10.

So I entered into a four-day seeking of Him through this verse from Colossians. Each morning of those four days, I rose early and spent at least an hour in deep prayer over these four aspects of Colossians 1 .10, and asking God to show me what He wanted me to see in them in a practical application to my own life.

And the four stated truths in Colossians 1 .10 are as follows. Number one, that you walk worthy of the Lord. Number two, unto all pleasing. Number three, being fruitful in every good work. And number four, an increase in the knowledge of God.

And for four days, I wrestled with God in my quiet time. Each morning, I wanted His Word to become a reality in my life. Every morning, I desperately sought Him for at least an hour or so on each of these four aspects of Colossians 1 .10.

I would only tackle one each day. I will share my Bible entries with you, friends, for each of these days and the truths I learned. On August 15, 2013, I began this process of fuller reality of God in my life.

Walking Worthy Through Fellowship in Christ’s Sufferings

I took the first portion of this verse, that you walk worthy of the Lord, and I asked the Most High to speak to me and to reveal to me what He had for me in this particular verse. He brought me to a companion verse in Philippians 3 .10, and He emphasized a portion of that verse to me that particular morning, and that was the fellowship of His sufferings.

God related to me the following truth, that from His perspective in heaven, He wanted me to know that to walk worthy meant to have the privilege of sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings. So His word to me was, walk worthy in the fellowship of my sufferings, and that is what I wrote in my Bible to mark His word to me, with the date added next to it, August 15.

Pleasing God Through a Life of Faith

The next morning was August 16, 2013, and I tackled my next portion of Colossians 1 .10, which was unto all pleasing. And for over an hour I wrestled with God, asking Him to speak to me and show me what He meant those words to mean to me as I walked with Him unto all pleasing.

In other words, how did He view my life as it was pleasing to Him? And He brought me to my companion verse of Hebrews 11 .6, which states, without faith it is impossible to please Him. What God was revealing to me was this, friends, that from His vantage point in heaven, how He wanted me to be all pleasing to Him was by experiencing a life of faith like I had never known before.

He was going to give me opportunities to test my faith, to exercise my faith, to prove my faith, and to build my faith unlike any other time in my life. So His word to me that day of August 16 was that I would be all pleasing by walking by faith in a practical application of my daily walk with God.

Bearing Fruit Through the Holy Spirit

The next day was August 17, and I tackled the next portion of Scripture, being fruitful in every good work. And as I prayed over those words, I wrestled with God in desperate prayer for Him to reveal to me what those words meant from His vantage point in heaven for my own life.

And the companion verse which He led me to was Zechariah 4 .6, which states, this is the word of the Lord saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, said the Lord of hosts. And God was speaking to my soul the following words, my spirit must be in control at all times through your surrendered life to me.

So being fruitful in every good work meant that it was only when God was actively attending my preaching ministry with an anointing from above by His spirit that I would have any fruit produced from His perspective.

When I attempted something for Him in the flesh, it was doomed to failure, that Christianity was not what I was doing for God in reaching others with the gospel, but rather it was what God was doing through me that mattered as He advanced His kingdom work through my surrendered life.

Increasing in the Knowledge of God

The last day of my drawn nearer to God in this season was August 18, 2013. And on that particular morning, I tackled the last aspect of Colossians 1 .10, which is an increase in the knowledge of God. And I must admit, friends, that day was a hard one.

I spent a good part of the morning searching God's heart in earnest prayer over that one as I asked Him to reveal to me what He meant those words to mean to me in my life from His vantage point in heaven.

He led me eventually to my companion verse of Jeremiah 33 .3, which states, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. And then God walked me through the pages of Genesis and the lives of His servants Noah and Abraham and how God spoke two promises to each of them and that in Jeremiah 33 .3 He had two promises associated with it.

For instance, in Genesis 6, God told Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. And the second revealed truth to Noah is found in the 18th verse of Genesis 6, but with thee will I establish my covenant.

And as I read that, I looked at that day's date and it was the 18th. So God was telling me that He had revealed two big, important truths to Noah and the same principle was found in Jeremiah 33 .3, that God had something He wanted to speak to me about concerning these truths in regard to how I would increase in my knowledge of Him.

It's found in Colossians 1 .10 and this is what He revealed to me on August the 18th at the end of my devotional time with Him. He said that if I seriously sought Him and desired real change in my life, He would answer me in the following manner.

He said, you will experience more of me through the fulfilled promises I have revealed to thee. And I knew right away which He was speaking. I forgot He had given me some very real promises from His word about a year prior to 2013.

And then He took me to Genesis 7 .10 which states, and it came to pass. And He reemphasized the fact that I would experience more Him as the stated promises to me came to pass. And that the great and mighty things from Jeremiah meant for me an inward and an outward working of God in my life.

That God was planning to do something great inwardly in my life. And He was speaking this promise beforehand to me. And the mighty things were to be outward workings of His purpose in my life in accordance with His plans for me.

And as these things came to pass, I would then experience a deeper knowledge of His attributes and character as related in Colossians 1 .10 which states, an increasing in the knowledge of God. Now let me state this, friends.

The Long Process of Spiritual Formation

This didn't happen overnight. It took time for these truths to flesh out in my own life. As a matter of fact, it took two very long, hard years. But I can stand before you today and say with the utmost certainty that God has been true to His word in relation to these four aspects of revealed truth from Colossians 1 .10.

He has allowed me the great privilege of the fellowship of His sufferance more than any other time in my life. Those who know me, know me closely, know me as a sufferer more than anything else. So He fulfilled the promise of the first aspect of Colossians 1 .10 that I would walk worthy from His vantage point in the fellowship of His suffering.

Secondly, He had given me more opportunities in these past two years to exercise my faith than ever before in my entire life. He has proven me more, tested me more, tried me more than any other season in my existence on this earth.

And He has built my faith, friends, and strengthened it more than ever before. So God has accomplished that which is purpose for me in the second aspect of Colossians 1 .10 unto all pleasing, meaning for me that I was going to be given a life of faith as I have never had before, more so than I ever dreamed possible when everything else is taken away, friends, and you lose everything like Job.

All you have left is your faith, and it is your faith that gets you through. Oh, I can say that with the utmost certainty. Thirdly, the aspect of being fruitful in every good work has grown by immense proportions in my walk with God.

I know there is nothing in me worthwhile. The only thing I deserve is hell. I am a sinner saved by grace, that if God produces anything through me, it is solely the work of His Holy Spirit through me.

He must receive all the glory. He has allowed me to walk under the discipline of His Holy Spirit for His great glory. And lastly, friends, this fourth aspect of Colossians 1 .10, an increase in the knowledge of God, has been the most worthwhile aspect of all.

God’s Faithfulness and the Christian’s Perseverance

Oh, dear friends, how little I knew of my God before this great exercise of faith, how little I knew of His purposes with man, how He builds a servant of His for His use and His glory. I could write volumes upon this subject and not exhaust its rich depths.

I can say this, friends, God's Word is true and God is true to His Word. You can count on that. His Word is good as gold. I've never been through a more deeper valley than I have these last several years, and I have never been tested by God more.

Although I have lost some battles along the way, I've not lost the war. The Christian life is the most thrilling on earth. I wouldn't have missed this for all the world. And let me end this message, friends, with some encouragement to you, with a promise to you.

Seeking God With All Your Heart

If you are serious with God, and if you want to go deeper with God, and if you want to draw nearer to God, I want you to know this fact for it's true. God wants you to draw nearer to Him. He has some secret things about your own life which He desires to reveal to you, and He has great purpose in which He desires to work through you.

Oh, dear friends, don't delay a deeper walk with your God. Go to Him in desperation and hunger and search Him in all earnestness. Seek Him with all your heart, and you will experience more of Him each step of the way.

I can promise you that. Let us now go to a time of prayer.