⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8 ESV)

It can, at times, be difficult to feel a closeness with God. Typically, this is due to something we have done that has lead us away from Him. We have lost touch and in doing so, possibly lost our way. But we can restore that closeness.

Our scripture says that we should cleans our hands and purify our hearts. We need to draw near to God and repent of our sins, humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness. If our sinful act has been a physical one, we need to cleanse ourselves and not go and sin in a physical way again. If it is more an issue of our hearts, we need to get right with God and make sure that Christ ways are our ways, that all our actions stem from a clean heart.

Lastly, we need to stop being double-minded. You see, when we go do our own thing we are being double-minded. We are taking our path and not God’s. We need to refocus our minds upon what God tells us is scripturally right. Then we need to remind ourselves moment by moment where our attitude and mind sit in relation to our sin. Does it sit with our desire for pleasure or God’s desire for purity?

We can feel closer to God, but we must draw near and atone so that there is nothing God from blocking drawing near to us.