Matt 24:12 – And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

It is God’s desire and will that we, who are called by His name, would always have and maintain a close connection to and warm fellowship with Him. That our pursuit of Him in the day to day would result in a mind and a heart that is engaged and active to the point that we have an ongoing and palpable sense of His “closeness” and presence, and His leading. In Acts chapter 3, Peter stated “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the *times of refreshing* shall come from the *presence* of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). 

These “times of refreshing” and the sense of the “presence of the Lord” were meant to be a perpetual and regular enjoyment of God’s people as they walk with Him every day. Yet remarkably, we are often taught that this kind of close fellowship and walk with the Lord should not really be expected, and to look for it might actually be problematic. I’ve often heard that we should expect regular “dry” times and to not be alarmed if we sense our hearts becoming detached and growing cold towards the things of God and the pursuit of Him. That this is a normal part of Christianity and we should expect it on a regular basis. As if the Lord only desires to visit with His people at sporadic times and seasons and then departs periodically to let us “fend for ourselves”. That during these times the heavens become brass and our prayers will not penetrate for a while until He returns again. So we draw back and ramp down our earnestness in prayer and devotion until a later time.

Where does this kind of thinking come from? Did Jesus teach this in the Gospels, or the Apostles in their epistles? Or did we come up with this on our own to try and explain and normalize what really amounts to our hearts growing cold. It is precisely during these times that we should be “ramping up” our prayers, devotion and pursuit of Him till we sense that the connection and warm fellowship with the Lord is re-established. It is not God who draws away from us, but WE who draw away from Him. He is the Lord, he changeth not. He is not fickle, nor does he engage in partiality and favoritism, or treat us differently depending on a specific “mood”, that’s a human problem. In all cases it is WE who initiate the departure, either through sin or complacency and it is up to US to remedy the problem, by submitting ourselves to Him and seeking His face.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded (Jam 4:7-8).

Once we clear the decks of any particular sins and complacency in resisting the Devil, and “draw nigh unto Him”, He “draws nigh unto us” and warm fellowship is joyfully restored. The Lord didn’t “go” anywhere, it is we who are returning unto Him. Let’s not normalize what really amounts to our hearts growing cold and let’s “Keep ourselves in the Love of God”. Jude 1:21 – Keep *yourselves* in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.