"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." - James 4:8

I was talking to my wife today about a time when she was sharing some hard moments with a friend from church. The friend encouraged her to "run to God" in those hard times. That's nice and makes sense but at the same time, what does that even look like?

I've been a Christian my whole life and it has taken most of my life up until this point for me to finally get a revelation of what "running to God" actually looks like in a practical way. And I mean truly running to God, not just a prayer and I go back to my old ways. Running to God is easier said than done.

For me it came in a hard time in my life. Poop hit the fan and I had a choice to either wallow in that poop or to give up and totally surrender everything to God. I decided in my heart and verbally that my way wasn't working and I needed Him. Surrender was the only option.

So this is what running to God looks like for me. This has had to be a revelation for me and then a commitment to running to Him. Everyone has a unique relationship with God, is at a different maturity level and from different backgrounds so I don't expect my way to be a one size fits all.

Absolute surrender

The first thing I had to do was completely surrender my life. Like for real. Not an airy fairy kumbaya my Lord... it was me on my knees, poop up to my eyeballs, calling out to God. As I said, poop had to hit the fan hard enough that I was like "I cannot do life on my own terms anymore. I give up."

I don't know if I could have arrived at that place without life getting to where it did. As hard as that time was, I'm thankful for it as it opened my eyes and showed me how deeply broken I am and my need for my saviour to take control of my life.

So I'm thankful for the scars
'Cause without them I wouldn't know Your heart
And I know they'll always tell of who You are
So forever I am thankful for the scars

- Scars by I AM THEY

Absolute surrender for me is a daily thing. Every day I need to surrender my life to Him so that I don't try to take back control of my life.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" - Job 42:5

Commitment

After truly surrendering, I had to make a commitment to not only run to Him but to push into Him daily.

To me this was waking up at 4:45am so I could go for a walk and listen to worship music, shower, read a devotional and pray. I did this routine 6 days a week and didn't miss a beat. Even when I went on holidays, I committed to this. I didn't want to get complacent or lazy. This wasn't out of a "law" mindset but a hunger to be with Him.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!“ - Deuteronomy 30:19

Know who I am in Christ

This is vital. If you don't truly know and believe who you are in Christ, you are easy pickings.

The Freedom In Christ course really helped me solidify who I am in Christ. Their free mobile app has a "Who I Am In Christ" section under the "Truth Encounter Lists" menu. Read this every day for a month and I can guarantee you that you'll know who you are in Christ. But you need to choose to believe it.

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20

We aren't fighting against flesh and blood

Boy oh boy is the enemy real. His influence has been far too obvious and real in my life. He's sneaky. He plays the long game. It's important we recognize his impact in our lives.

Someone made a good analogy of how the devils works the other day. Picture a tower of Jenga. The enemy slides one block out and makes the tower just that little less stable. He might wait a year till he takes the next block. Block after block he can eventually whittle away until it collapses. This is a true story in my own life and it's important we know who we are up against.

But the good news is, Jesus won the victory on the cross. We are children of God, we have authority in Jesus over the devil and we can resist Him and he will flee. But we have to choose to believe and action this authority.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy... - John 10:10

Actually run to Him

Building a real deep and meaningful relationship with God makes a huge difference. But it doesn't exclude you from life. Poop still happens. Things from the past can still impact us.

Me running to God is done through cranking up some worship music and getting on my hands and knees. Crying out to Him, praying, reading verses that I've memorised or written down. I visualize myself laying whatever it is at the feet of Jesus, stepping back and bowing to Him on my hands and knees. I stay in His presence until I feel Him lift it off of me. The problem doesn't magically disappear but I feel a peace and a love. This is what running to Him looks like for me.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30

He is faithful

And you know what. He is faithful. He never lets us down. His word is so true. When we run to Him, he lifts the heaviness and takes the burdens. He brings peace.

I've had moments in my life where literally my life was turned upside down and it would be easy to blame God and be angry at Him. But honestly, my lense and view of the situation is so narrow. God knows. He has a plan and part of me surrendering my life to Him is trusting Him and his will.

‭‭”You are good and do only good..." - Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭68‬