Come To God

Pastor Dan Lupton, who pastored a church I attended in Illinois once said One of the most beautiful words in the Bible is the word Come. You see, God longs for us to come to Him. He invites us to come to Him. He invites us to Himself. He does that because He loves us. He wants fellowship with us. He wants to have a right relationship with us.

He invites us to Himself in many ways. He invites us to Himself in the words of the Bible. He invites us to Himself through preachers. He invites us to Himself by the Holy Spirit. He invites us to Himself through the creation (nature). There are about a hundred references in the Bible to clouds. About 90 percent of them are connected to the glory of God. Seeing the clouds or any of the other beauties of the creation reveal God to us and they ought to draw us to Him. Sunsets are more beautiful with clouds in them. The moon is more beautiful when it peeks at us through clouds. The God who created these beauties invites us to know Him through and because of these wonders. He invites us to Himself by the events of our lives. He intends those events to show us our need for Him and to bring us to Himself.

Have you heard and responded to Him? Do you listen and obey? Or do you shush Him? When He invites you with open arms, do you open your arms to Him, or do you keep Him at arms length? We ought to come to Him for every need. We ought to come first for salvation. And then we can come for comfort, forgiveness, peace, knowledge, wisdom, guidance, assurance, fellowship, purpose, power, health, love and everything else. God has everything and He is worth coming to!!!

We have all had many delightful invitations in our lives. Come to someone*s home. Come to a wedding. Come to some other special event. But the most important is the invitation to come to God through Jesus Christ.

Have you ever invited someone to your home? And been hurt when they didn*t come. Try to realize what God thinks and how He feels when He invites you to Himself and you don*t come.

I like some of these thoughts from the Thompson Chain Reference Bible:

Come into a place of safety. The ark is a type of Jesus. -- Genesis 7:1: And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

Come for a satisfying portion -- Isaiah 55:1: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Come at the three-fold call -- Revelation 11:28: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.

Come for personal cleansing -- Isaiah 1:18: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Come at the king*s urgent invitation: -- Matthew 22:4: Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.

Come to the gospel feast -- Luke 14:17: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

Other Bible invitations to come:

Matthew 14:28-29: And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

Peter wasn*t sure he was seeing Jesus. Jesus proved to Peter that it was He. Even the boisterous water could not keep Peter from Jesus. If we genuinely want to come to Him, nothing will prevent it.

2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God does not want to condemn anyone. Those who stubbornly refuse to come to him condemn themselves.

John 6:37: All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

I love guarantees. This is the best guarantee there ever was.

Song of Solomon 2:10: My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

This verse is a wonderful illustration of Jesus calling to us.

Matthew 11:28: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

John 7:37: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

Revelation 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me.

John 6:45: It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

If we have come to Him here on earth in our lifetime, He will call us to Himself some day. He will make us able to obey. Those who have not responded to Jesus* call will not be able to hear that final call or respond to it. They will be deaf to it. They will be totally unable to respond to it.

Run to Jesus. If you can*t run, walk to Jesus. If you can*t walk, crawl to Jesus. If you can*t crawl, look to Jesus. If you are only able to come to Him in your heart and mind, do that. He will accept whatever way you are capable of coming to Him.

Care to discuss Come%20To%20God with Ron?

He'd also like to hear your prayer requests