²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. (Hebrews 10:22 CSB)

There are times when I feel near to God and other times when I feel distant. In either case, more than likely, the feeling is predicated upon something I have done or did not do. God is not fickle like us mere humans. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

But there are often things I do that make me distance from God. These are the times I must stop and take steps to draw near to Him and our scripture give us a great starting point.

With a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts clean from an evil conscience.

True, depending upon the time and the circumstances, it may be hard for us to get to a point where we feel we have a true heart. Often we are burdened by the latter part of this, which is a heart that is not clean from an evil conscience. We have either unconfessed sin or repeated sin we are dealing with.

It is here then where we must start. We must begin with true remorse, attrition and acceptance of God’s forgiveness for our sinful nature. Once we have gotten our heads and our hearts right, we are ready to draw near to God.

Just remember, the Spirit is always within, so God is always near.