(May 31, 2023) The late Dr Andrew Evans’ 1997 Heart to Heart challenge is still very relevant today! [See footnote]

Where are you in relation to God? James 4:8NKJV is a powerful scripture: ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’

Not even close? If you’re not a Christian, Ephesians 2:1-3 describes you well –

• Doomed forever for your sins,
• Going along with the crowd,
• Obeying Satan,
• A heart against God, and
• Doing wicked things stemming from evil thoughts.

Strong words from the apostle Paul, yet that’s how you stand in your relation to God! The good news is in verses 4-6. In His mercy God loves you and wants to bring you into His family so that you can be close to Him.

Although you don’t deserve it, God has provided the means by which the old way of life is gone and you are secure in him as a Christian – the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, on Calvary when He paid the penalty for your sins.

John 10:28-29 becomes a good scripture of assurance when you accept Jesus as Saviour – it’s a promise of eternal security and being so close to God that you’re in His very hand!

Close… but not in fellowship?
Perhaps you are a Christian, even regularly attending church: you know you’re close in that you understand you’re secure in His hand, but you don’t know how to be in a deeper really close relationship!

The problem is that while you’re not out of the family of God, you’re out of fellowship with Him and you need to put that right.

James, who in our opening scripture urges us to come near to God, was actually writing to members of God’s worldwide family (1:1GNB). He deals with several things that can cause us to be out of fellowship with the Father, such as

• Sin,
• Doublemindedness,
• Speaking evil of others,
• Judging,
• Lacking humility
• Wrong attitudes,
• Arrogance,
• Boastfulness,
• Chasing earthly riches and
• Lacking patience.

His advice for those who desire to draw really near to God, maintain and enjoy a deep meaningful closeness, is simple – deal with every area that draws you away from God! But do so with a sense of humility and repentance.

James 4:10NKJV says, ‘Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.’ And He will! For you were destined to live in close relationship with God.

Really far away?
If that’s how you’re feeling, you need to do something about it now! There is a very dangerous position that you could drift into – so far away from God that you become an apostate. Such a person once knew God but has deliberately turned his or her back on His grace and renounced Christ!

Hebrews 6:4-6 is a stern warning about falling into this trap for it emphasises the possibility of never being able to renew the situation.
 
Therefore I urge you to get right with God – immediately! Don’t drift so far away from ‘the heavenly gift’ and the ‘good word of God’ (v4:5), that you place yourself not only in mortal danger but you miss out on your life making an impact for Jesus.

Getting back into fellowship
To do so is not really difficult for those with a repentant heart.

In addition to the things that James points out to the dealt with, pride should be discarded. This was the very thing that separated Satan, then called Lucifer, from God (Ezekiel 28:15-17). Proverbs 6:16-19 speaks of seven other things that are an abomination to God –

• Haughtiness
• Lying
• Destroying innocence
• Devising evil schemes
• Lacking caution regarding abstaining from evil
• False witnessing, and
• Stirring up dissension in the church.

Actually, when you think about it, these are all characteristics of Satan so they definitely need to be dealt with quickly! And God will help you to do so. Again James’ encouragement is helpful: ‘God gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (4:6-7, emphasis mine).

God’s grace is poured out in abundance when we genuinely repent and are determined to remain in God’s will. When we do so, we will know His closeness, and sense His presence, especially in our prayer life, and we’ll become effective servants in the kingdom.

Closeness bears fruit
Jesus said in John 15:5 that we should abide in Him as branches on the vine and ‘bear much fruit.’

Your life lies ahead of you. By being totally committed to Christ and His plan for you, you can impact the lives of many others. Draw closer to God, live in that relationship, discover His will for you – and fulfil it.

You’ll never regret it!

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Editorial note!
Dr Andrew Evans passed onto glory last Friday, safe in the arms of His Saviour whom he always highlighted. Regarded as a man of prayer, faith and vision, he acknowledged his dependency on the Holy Spirit and was highly respected by leaders worldwide, including other denominations.
Holder of the longest tenure as General Superintendent of AoG Australia (now ACC) – 20 years (1977 to 1997), he believed in the autonomy of the local church, the miraculous of the Holy Spirit, and his encouraging leadership saw the fellowship grow in that period from 150 churches to 900 with 1000 ministers and some 117,000 members and adherents.
New and exciting departments were established – such as local Bible colleges, Students for Christ, Youth Alive, Women’s Ministries, Kids R Us. No longer was the fellowship regarded as ‘some little brothers down under’ by AoG leaders in the States, Canada, UK, Europe, New Zealand and elsewhere. His own home church, Paradise AoG, grew too with thousands of converts and Dr Evans became a sought after speaker across the word, especially at conferences, including Dr David Yonggi Cho’s.
It was my honour and pleasure to assist Dr Andrew establish his quarterly Minister’s Bulletin and articlise chosen sermons for his Heart to Heart page in AoG’s monthly Australian Evangel such as the April 1977 one above. The following month, on his decision to retire as general superintendent, I wrote an 8-page Special Tribute entitled A Heart for God for both Evangel and Minister’s Bulletin.
Requesting tributes from leaders local and worldwide, I received several, such as the following from the late Wynne Lewis, General Superintendent Elim Pentecostal Church, UK: ‘Andrew Evans is first and foremost one of God’s great and humble servants. His leadership of the Assemblies of God in Australia has been exemplary and outstanding. His ministry in conferences and churches in Great Britain has always been challenging and uplifting. Speaking from a wealth of experience and proven ability, he breathed faith and fire into the people. We salute the zeal, faithfulness and integrity of this wonderful man of God.’
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