How Pursuing God Can Turn Your Life Around

When we are facing a setback, one of the most natural things to do is to seek a way out of it. We search for our comeback. But it’s wiser to pursue God, because your comeback is found in God alone. The believer who is focused on drawing closer to God won’t have to worry very much about finding their comeback or God’s plan for their lives. When you find the One who holds both of these in His hands, you’ll find what you’re seeking.

As you face any setback in life, make it your goal to pursue a deeper, more intimate relationship with God right where He has put you. Let’s talk about the three ways the Bible says you can do this.

Submit to God’s authority in your life. This means saying to Him day by day, “Not my will, but Your will be done. I subject my desires to Your desires, my dreams to Your dreams, my purposes and plans to Your purposes and plans.”

Resist the devil’s attempts to influence you. The devil cannot overcome us by power, he has to attack us with deception and temptation. Satan can make you want to sin, but if you are a believer, Satan cannot make you sin. He simply makes sin look attractive and easy to commit.

Draw closer to God. The closer you are to God, the more that bully the devil will leave you alone. That’s why the Word of God tells us, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).

Jesus told a story about two men who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood up proudly and said, “God, I thank You that I am not like other people” (Luke 18:11). As he went on to list various sinners, he noticed a tax collector standing next to him—a perfect example of the kind of sinner he was talking about. So the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like that low-life tax collector.

But the tax collector had a different attitude. He would not even approach the altar, but stood back, beat his chest in agony over his sins, and cried out, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner” (verse 13).

Jesus said the tax collector went away justified, while the Pharisee went away condemned. Why? Because the person who thinks he is high will be brought low, but the one who goes low will be lifted high.

That tax collector knew what it meant to pursue God. Despite his sins, despite his evil deeds, he wanted to draw close to God more than he wanted anything else. He also knew what God required if he were to draw near to Him—a humble awareness of his sin and need for God.

What about you? Do you have a desire for God that will not be satisfied with anything less than deep, personal intimacy with Him? Wherever you are in your spiritual life, you can decide to pursue God with greater intimacy. You can regroup like a football team at halftime.

At halftime, the teams stop playing and rally together. No matter what happened in the first half, they still have time to do something. The game isn’t over yet.

Right now, it’s only halftime in your spiritual life. You still have another half to get back out on the field and play to win. Don’t listen to the crowd or to anyone else except Jesus Christ. He is calling you to intimate fellowship with Himself. It is time for your comeback!

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Download a free chapter at YourComebackBook.com.

Dr. Tony Evans is founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, and best-selling author of The Power of God’s Names, Victory in Spiritual Warfare, and many other books. His radio broadcast, “The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans,” can be heard on more than 1,200 US outlets daily and in more than 130 countries.