How We Draw Near to God

The Journey of the Soul toward God according to the Orthodox Church

Introduction

The deepest meaning of human life is for man to draw near to God, to know his Creator, to be healed from the alienation of sin, and to become a partaker of the divine life. Man was not created merely to live biologically, socially, psychologically, or morally. He was created for communion with God. His soul, even when he does not realize it, thirsts for God. All the deepest longings of man—the thirst for truth, love, peace, meaning, forgiveness, and immortality—find their fullness only in God.

The Orthodox Church does not teach that God is approached through techniques, psychological methods, religious imagination, or individual self-improvement. God is approached in Christ, within the Orthodox Church, through repentance, prayer, the Mysteries, the keeping of the commandments, love, humility, the purification of the passions, and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Orthodox sources summarize the spiritual path as a journey of communion with God, in which prayer, repentance, and participation in the Mysteries of the Church are essential means of healing and union with Christ.

To draw near to God does not mean that God is geographically far away and that we must cover a distance. God is everywhere present. The distance is spiritual: sin, self-love, pride, negligence, unbelief, and attachment to the passions. We draw near to God when we distance ourselves from whatever darkens our heart and open our existence to His grace.

1. God Drew Near to Us First

Before man ever drew near to God, God drew near to man. This is fundamental. The spiritual life does not begin with human searching, but with divine condescension. God created man according to His image, gave him life, spoke to him, called him, and when man fell, He did not abandon him. The highest manifestation of this divine approach is the Incarnation of the Son and Word of God.

Christ is God who came near to us, not merely with words, but by taking on human nature. He became man, lived among us, healed, taught, was crucified, rose again, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the way to God is Christ: “I am the Way.” We do not draw near to God by bypassing Christ. We draw near to Him through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, toward the Father.

The Orthodox Church teaches that salvation is communion with God, which reaches its fulfillment in theosis, that is, man’s participation in the divine life by grace. Orthodox sources describe theosis as the path by which the believer becomes a partaker of the divine life—not according to essence, but according to grace— living ever more fully in Christ.

Therefore, the first step in drawing near to God is to accept that He drew near to us first. The spiritual life is not an achievement, but a response to a calling.

2. The Soul Draws Near to God through Repentance

Repentance is the gate through which we approach God. Without repentance, a person may speak about God, read theology, and participate outwardly in religious acts, while his heart remains far away. Repentance means a change of mind, a return, an exodus from self-justification, the confession of one’s wound, and the longing for healing.

The prodigal son draws near to his father when he says: “I will arise and go to my father.” The return begins with awareness: “I have sinned.” The Publican draws near to God not with great virtues, but with a contrite heart: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” The thief draws near to Christ on the cross with one phrase of humble hope: “Remember me, O Lord.”

Repentance is not despair. The person who repents does not say, “I am lost,” but rather, “I need God.” Repentance is not psychological guilt, but a movement toward the Father. Orthodox sources emphasize that the Mystery of Repentance and Confession is the way by which the person who has become alienated from life in Christ returns, is reconciled with the Creator, and is restored to the ecclesial community.

Therefore, whoever wishes to draw near to God should not begin with curiosity about lofty theories. Let him begin with: “Lord, have mercy on me.”

3. Prayer as Living Communion with God

Prayer is the breathing rhythm of the soul. Just as the body dies without breath, so the soul withers without prayer. Prayer is not only asking things from God. It is standing before Him, glorifying Him, thanking Him, opening our heart to Him, asking for His mercy, and keeping silence before Him.

The Orthodox Church knows many forms of prayer: liturgical prayer, personal prayer, the Psalms, the services, the Jesus Prayer, doxology, supplication, thanksgiving, and the silent posture of the heart. Orthodox sources describe prayer as a means of communion with God and the foundation of the spiritual life. Without prayer, as the patristic tradition says, there is no life of the spirit.

Prayer, however, must be offered with humility. God is not approached through imagination, demands, or spiritual self-confidence. The prayer of the proud becomes a monologue. The prayer of the humble becomes an encounter. For this reason, the short prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” summarizes the whole Orthodox mind: confession of Christ, confession of need, and invocation of mercy.

4. We Draw Near to God within the Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy is the center of the Orthodox Church. The believer does not draw near to God alone, as an isolated individual, but as a member of the Body of Christ. In the Divine Liturgy, man does not merely hear religious words. He enters into the eucharistic reality of the Kingdom, where all life is offered to God and God gives Himself to man.

The Liturgy teaches us how to draw near to God: with thanksgiving, repentance, attentiveness, love, common prayer, obedience to the word of God, and participation in Holy Communion. Orthodox sources note that the life and character of the Orthodox Christian are formed, nourished, and enriched by the worship of the Church.

In the Liturgy we say: “Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life unto Christ our God.” This phrase is an entire path toward God. To draw near to God means to surrender my whole life to Christ: my joys, my fears, my plans, my wounds, my family, my future, my sin, and my death.

5. Holy Communion as the Closest Union with Christ

Holy Communion is the highest sacramental approach to God. The believer does not merely draw near to Christ intellectually or emotionally, but partakes of His Body and Blood. The Holy Eucharist is a real participation in the life of Christ. Orthodox sources concerning the sacramental life emphasize that the Mysteries, and especially the Holy Eucharist, are central means of union with Christ and of cultivating life in God.

Holy Communion, however, must not be approached without preparation. We approach Christ “with the fear of God, faith, and love.” The fear of God is not the terror of despair, but reverence, awe, and the awareness that we are coming before the Holy One. Faith means that we do not see merely bread and wine, but receive the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. Love means that we cannot commune of Christ while harboring hatred toward our brother.

Orthodox sources concerning Confession and Holy Communion emphasize that preparation for Holy Communion is not merely a matter of dietary fasting, but of repentance, prayer, reconciliation, obedience to the commandments, and the healing of spiritual wounds.

Therefore, the soul draws nearest to God when it approaches the Chalice with sincere repentance and a longing for Christ.

6. Keeping the Commandments as the Path of Approach

Christ says: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” We do not draw near to God merely through feelings, but through obedience. Love for God is manifested in action: forgiveness, almsgiving, purity, humility, truthfulness, self-control, patience, justice, and love for enemies.

The commandments of Christ are not legal demands imposed by a harsh lawgiver. They are therapeutic guides to life. When Christ says, “Do not judge,” He heals us from pride. When He says, “Love your enemies,” He heals us from hatred. When He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” He shows us that purity is the vision of God.

Many seek to draw near to God through inner experiences while neglecting the commandments. This is delusion. The Orthodox Church does not separate the mystical life from the moral life. The person who truly prays becomes more humble, more merciful, and more truthful. If our “spirituality” does not give birth to love, then it is not bringing us closer to God.

7. Humility as the Essential Condition

God is approached only through humility. The proud person may speak about God, but he does not know Him. Pride closes the heart because a person becomes full of himself. Humility makes room for God.

Humility does not mean hating oneself or denying the gifts God has given. It means knowing that everything is a gift, that without God I cannot live spiritually, and that I stand in need of mercy. The humble person does not despair over his weakness because he trusts in the mercy of God.

The Fathers regard humility as the foundation of every virtue. Saint Isaac the Syrian teaches that humility is the garment of divinity, because Christ revealed God through humble condescension. Saint John Climacus sees humility as an unnamed grace known only by those who have tasted it.

The more a person humbles himself, the more familiar God becomes to him. Not because God delights in seeing us brought low, but because only a humble heart can receive divine love without turning it into selfworship.

8. Purity of Heart

Christ says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The vision of God is inseparably connected with purity. Not merely bodily purity, but purity of heart: freedom from hatred, malice, hypocrisy, passionate attachments, self-love, and the defilement of evil thoughts.

The human heart is like a mirror. When darkened by the passions, it cannot reflect the light of God. When it is cleansed through repentance, prayer, fasting, confession, and love, it becomes receptive to grace. Purity is not moralistic perfection, but the unification of the heart around God.

Saint Gregory the Theologian emphasizes that a person must first be purified in order to theologize. Knowledge of God is not mere intellectual information. It is the fruit of a pure heart. For this reason, the Orthodox Church speaks of purification, illumination, and theosis as the stages of the spiritual journey.

9. Ascetic Struggle: Fasting, Self-Control, Vigilance, and Silence

We also draw near to God through ascetic struggle. Asceticism is not contempt for life, but the healing of self-love. The person who is enslaved to his desires finds it difficult to pray. The mind becomes scattered, the heart weighed down, and the body becomes a tyrant. Ascetic struggle brings freedom.

Fasting teaches us that we do not live by bread alone. Self-control teaches us to say “no” to the passions. Vigilance teaches us to seek God beyond comfort. Silence teaches us to listen. Almsgiving teaches us not to place ourselves at the center of the world.

Orthodox sources concerning the spiritual life connect the journey toward God with ascetic effort, prayer, and participation in the Mysteries—not as isolated acts of self-improvement, but as means of cooperating with the grace of God.

Asceticism without humility becomes harshness. Asceticism without love becomes Pharisaism. Asceticism within the Orthodox Church is therapeutic, not ego-centered.

10. Love for One’s Neighbor as the Way to God

We cannot draw near to God while bypassing our neighbor. The Apostle John says that whoever does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. Love for one’s neighbor is the practical place of encounter with God.

Many seek mystical experiences but do not forgive. They desire prayer while holding resentment. They seek Holy Communion while despising the poor. They want to feel God, yet wound the person standing beside them. This is a spiritual contradiction.

God is encountered in Eucharistic communion, but also in the face of the suffering person. Christ identifies Himself with the hungry, the stranger, the sick, and the imprisoned. Almsgiving, hospitality, forgiveness, gentleness, and service are all roads leading to God.

Love is not merely an emotion. It is a cruciform act. To love means to step outside oneself, to bear burdens, to forgive, to help, to pray, and to endure. When the soul learns to love, it becomes akin to God, for “God is love.”

11. Spiritual Guidance

The path to God requires discernment. A person can easily fall into delusion. He may mistake his passion for divine illumination, his own desire for the will of God, his arrogance for zeal, or his cowardice for humility. For this reason, the Orthodox Church places great importance on the spiritual father, ecclesial guidance, and obedience exercised with discernment.

The spiritual father is not a substitute for God, nor is he the master of our lives. He is a witness to the wisdom of the Church, a fellow traveler, a healer, and a guide. He helps the soul distinguish light from deception. Confession and spiritual counsel are precious means because a person, left to himself, easily justifies himself.

Orthodox sources on Confession explain that repentance is not a legal acquittal, but the restoration of man to the life of the Church, the healing of spiritual illness, and the renewal of baptismal life.

12. The Study of the Word of God and the Fathers

We also draw near to God through the study of Holy Scripture and the Fathers. Not, however, as cold information, but as nourishment for the soul. Scripture is not merely a historical or literary book. It is the Word of God within the Church. The Fathers are not merely theoretical writers, but men illumined by grace.

Study must be undertaken with prayer, humility, and the mind of the Church. The proud study and become puffed up. The humble study and repent. The purpose of study is not to win arguments, but to know Christ.

The Orthodox Church links truth with prayer and purity of heart. Orthodox sources note that the Orthodox faith is a liturgical faith, grounded in Scripture and in the historic worshiping life of the Church, and that the truths of the faith are revealed to a praying mind and a purified heart.

13. Patience in Suffering and under the Cross

We draw near to God not only when everything goes well, but also in the midst of suffering. The cross can become a place of encounter with God if we bear it with faith, repentance, and hope. Suffering by itself does not save. It can harden a person. But when it is offered to Christ, it becomes a path of humility and deeper communion.

Christ did not call us to a life without a cross. He said: “Let him take up his cross and follow Me.” Each person’s cross may be illness, injustice, loneliness, grief, failure, temptation, endurance of a difficult person, or struggle against a passion. When a person does not murmur but says, “Lord, remain with me,” suffering becomes prayer.

The saints drew near to God not because they did not suffer, but because in their suffering they did not depart from Christ.

14. Thanksgiving and Doxology

One of the deepest ways of drawing near to God is thanksgiving. The thankful person sees life as a gift. The ungrateful person lives constantly with a sense of deprivation, injustice, and complaint. Thanksgiving heals murmuring.

In the Divine Liturgy, the whole Church becomes Eucharist—Thanksgiving. We offer to God His own gifts and receive Christ in return. This eucharistic disposition should continue outside the church building as well. We should thank God for the day, for our daily bread, for people, for forgiveness, for small gifts, and even amid difficulties.

The person who gives thanks draws near to God because he recognizes His presence. Complaining darkens the soul; doxology illumines it.

15. The Soul Draws Near to God When It Departs from the Passions

We cannot draw near to God while consciously nourishing our passions. God receives the sinner, but not an unrepentant attachment to sin. Christ heals, but man must desire to be healed.

Passions such as pride, sensuality, greed, resentment, judgment of others, envy, spiritual sloth, and negligence create darkness. The soul that lives within them loses the sense of God—not because God departs, but because the heart closes itself.

Spiritual healing is gradual. The passions are not conquered by a single decision. They require prayer, confession, fasting, watchfulness over thoughts, avoidance of occasions of sin, and the practice of contrary virtues. The proud are healed by humility. The greedy by almsgiving. The resentful by forgiveness. The impure by self-control. The negligent by a steady spiritual rule.

16. Practical Ways to Draw Near to God

• First, begin and end each day with prayer. Let it be brief if necessary, but let it be consistent.

• Second, frequently say the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”

• Third, participate in the Divine Liturgy, not as a spectator, but with attention and repentance.

• Fourth, approach Holy Communion with preparation, blessing, and awareness.

• Fifth, go to Confession—not merely formally, but sincerely.

• Sixth, read a little from Holy Scripture and the Fathers every day.

• Seventh, forgive quickly and do not hold grudges.

• Eighth, practice almsgiving, even in small ways, but with a loving heart.

• Ninth, guard your senses and your thoughts.

• Tenth, seek spiritual guidance.

• Eleventh, give thanks to God for all things.

• Twelfth, do not despair when you fall, but rise again through repentance.

17. The Goal: Not Merely to Draw Near, but to Be United with God

The Orthodox Church does not reduce the spiritual life to moral improvement. Its goal is theosis. That is, for man to become a partaker of the divine life by grace. Not to become God by nature, but to be illumined, sanctified, transformed, and to live in Christ. This is the ultimate purpose of prayer, the Mysteries, ascetic struggle, and love.

We draw near to God in order to become His own. And the more we become His, the more truly human we become. For man finds himself only when he finds God.

Conclusion

How do we draw near to God?

We draw near to Him through Christ, within the Orthodox Church, through repentance, prayer, the Divine Liturgy, Holy Communion, Confession, the keeping of the commandments, humility, purity of heart, ascetic struggle, love for one’s neighbor, spiritual guidance, and thanksgiving.

The soul draws near to God when it ceases to revolve around itself and turns toward Christ. When, instead of self-justification, it seeks mercy. When, instead of resentment, it chooses forgiveness. When, instead of negligence, it chooses prayer. When, instead of sin, it chooses repentance. When, instead of fear, it chooses trust.

God is not far away. Our hearts are often far away. And the whole spiritual life is the return of the heart to God.

Lord Jesus Christ, Teach us to draw near to You through repentance, to seek You with a pure heart, to partake of You with the fear of God, faith, and love, and to live our entire life as a journey toward Your Kingdom. Amen.