Whether you are a mature Christian or new to the faith, pursuing a deeper relationship with God is a lifelong endeavor. We will go through various stages of life where we can feel His presence immeasurably and times when we think He is silent.
These moments do not detract from our desire to be near our heavenly Father. Communication with family and friends can ebb and flow but we know where we stand with our loved ones.
How much more can we be assured about our relationship with God?
Here are 5 essential ways to deepen your relationship with God
1. Find out who He is
I find that many people sadly turn from God as they realize they do not trust what they were told about God. This tends to push people away from God altogether versus pushing towards a personal relationship.
No matter what your pastor says or your favorite influencer says or your family says, true knowledge of who God is will come from the Holy Spirit from within you. There are many ways for God to reveal Himself and His character to you.
Take a look back at where you know you have encountered the mercy and grace of Jesus. Write these moments down to remind yourself of His true character.
Pray for a desire to know Him deeper and ask Him to reveal more of himself to you.
Be patient in receiving knowledge of Him. Like any relationship, the more time that you spend with God the more you will learn and build on a deeper relationship.
Romans 8:14 assures us that “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”(ESV).
Take comfort in being a child of God.
2. Learn what is pleasing to Him
The Bible is our source of truth for what is pleasing to God. In this world, we frequently see the mix of truth with lies. There is a constant fight for Christians to compromise and shift with the waves of culture.
Child of God, take the time to read His word. In discerning lies, we have to first understand truth. Along with reading His word, we must also study it.
In Matthew 4, we see Jesus tempted by Satan. Satan had the nerve to use scripture against Jesus. Though the scripture was not false or made up, Satan used it out of context to try to lure Jesus. We must remember that we are not above these tactics of the enemy. Anyone can misquote or use scripture incorrectly to manipulate us.
The Word of God is our sword against the enemy and we must be wise in using it.
We see from this passage that Jesus set an example for us to not only know the word of God but be able to rightly divide the word.
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3. Repent
Repentance is a change of heart. We make thousands of decisions every day. Choosing to walk the most righteous way may seem easy when you stop your most obvious (to you) sins. We should seek repentance and wisdom about our sin every day. Lest we forget, why we love Jesus so much in the first place.
What hope do I have in a savior if I don’t believe I need to be saved?
In Romans 7, Paul speaks about the struggle he continues to have with sin.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
(Romans 7: 21-23 ESV)
Thank Jesus for his life saving work in you!
Be open to receiving the Holy Spirit’s conviction because the Lord corrects those that He loves. When we have an openness to hear from the Lord, it draws us closer to living in righteousness.
4. Rest
When Samuel heard God as a child, he was resting. He laid his head down to sleep and heard the Lord call out to him.
1 Samuel 3: 1 states this was a time when “the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision” (ESV).
Samuel was not accustomed to hearing the voice of the Lord. It was in his time of rest that he heard Him so clearly, he thought it was Eli!
We live in a culture that takes rest for granted. With technological advances at every turn, there is little for us to work as hard for so we turn our attention to other things. Sometimes, even leisure turns into work.
Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. He had placed himself near to the Lord, and thus rested in His presence.
“Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’”
1 Samuel 3:9 (ESV)
Take the time to rest in His presence and know that He is near.
5. Pray
How can you have a relationship with someone that you don’t talk to?
Prayer is the foundation of our relationship. It is what draws us near to him.
Humans thrive with communication. Communicating with God is no different. If you find yourself in a season without a church home or Bible, Jesus has guaranteed you the opportunity to connect with your heavenly Father anywhere.
In John 10, Jesus presents Himself as the Good Shepherd. He says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (v. 14, ESV).
In this scripture, the word know in Greek is ginóskó. It means “to come to know” This shows a knowledge that is gained through a personal relationship.
Each and every one of His children is invited to a deep and personal relationship with Him. The Creator of the universe wants to talk to you! How incredible to be loved so deeply and fully. Take advantage of the relationship offer that has been given to us. Nothing is better than knowing our Creator.
