Day 8 of 30 — God Draws Near When You Pray
Good morning, guys—and welcome to day number eight of the 30-day men’s prayer challenge.
First, I just want to say this: I’m praying that God’s presence and power is wrapping around your life and changing you from the inside out. I really believe He is. And if you’ll stay faithful to this challenge, God is going to do tremendous things in your life.
Also—do me a favor. If you can, drop a comment wherever you’re seeing this (Facebook, Substack, wherever). Just share what God has done in your life over the past seven days as you’ve taken those ten minutes alone in prayer. Your comment could literally encourage somebody else to keep going and help them draw closer to the Lord too.
Today’s Scripture: Psalm 145:18
Today’s verse is Psalm 145:18:
“The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.”
I want to encourage you with something simple but powerful: every single time you pray, the Lord draws near. He draws near to you. He’s not distant from you. He stays close to you—whether you feel Him or you don’t.
Now, let me pause and say this: I’m grateful for the presence of the Lord. I’m thankful for every moment I get to feel His presence in a tangible way. But whether you feel Him or not, the Bible teaches us, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” That means we don’t live by feelings alone.
So here’s the truth you can anchor your heart to: anytime you call on Him, the Lord is near. That’s what the Word says. Every time you pray, God draws near.
Today’s Challenge: Don’t Perform—Just Be With Him
Here’s the challenge for today.
In your prayer time, don’t perform. Don’t come into prayer trying to make yourself look good for God.
You know what I mean—“Oh God, here I am, I’m doing the best I can,” and all the stuff we do to try to make God more happy with us or more impressed with us.
Listen—God can’t be more pleased with you than He is when He applies the blood of Jesus to your life. He can’t love you any more than He already loves you. He loves you with an inexhaustible love.
And guys, if we’re honest, this is one of the temptations we face as men—we try to perform. We try to do more, push harder, fix everything, go further. But in the secret place, God isn’t asking you to perform.
Just call on Him like a Heavenly Father. Call on Him in love. Call on Him like your Heavenly Dad—like we’ve talked about before—and pour your heart out to Him.
That’s why I’m pushing this ten minutes alone with God. Not surrounded by the crowd. Not worried about what somebody else might think if they heard what you’re praying. Just you and the Lord. A secret place between you and your Heavenly Father.
And here’s the freedom in that: you don’t have to worry that God is expecting perfection from you.
None of us are perfect. Neither you nor me—nobody can be.
But the blood of Jesus cleanses our sin. The blood of Jesus makes us pure before the Lord. So it’s what He did, not what we do.
Reflection Question
Here’s your question for today:
Are you living like God is close, or are you living like you’re just on your own?
It goes back to those “boxes” we talked about in another video—how we compartmentalize life, like God is only in one section and everything else is separate.
I want to encourage you: don’t live like that.
Live today with an awareness that God is close.
When you’re at work—God is close.
When you’re at lunch—God is close.
When you come home at the end of the day—God is close.
When you’re trying to relate to your family, solve a problem, fix an issue—God is close.
When you’re angry—God is close.
When you feel sad or hurt—God is close.
When you’re confused—God is close.
At every moment, He loves you—and He draws near to you. And if you’ll take your time to pray, He will draw near to you.
So live like that today, in Jesus’ name. You’re going to find amazing things for your life.
Before You Go
If you haven’t taken your ten minutes of prayer yet, I want to encourage you: as soon as you’re done with this video, go take your ten minutes alone with God. It will transform and revolutionize your life.
And even though it’s day eight, somebody else can still jump in with us. So share this video with somebody who needs it.
Thanks for joining me today. I’ll see you in the next one.