Apr. 11, 2007 - How to Grow Closer to God
Entry #1
How to Grow Closer to God
How can we draw closer to God's heart? As a Christian, it should be our desire to become more like God, know Him more, and be closer to Him.
Having a real relationship with God is like nothing else in the world. Our Creator of our world wants to draw closer to you, and loves to be in fellowship with you. That is why Jesus shed His blood on Calvary, so we can speak to God without having to go into a tabernacle, and our sins can be forgiven without going to a priest. What a blessing!!
Having a relationship with God grows our faith in God, and grows our love for Him. You might have the head knowledge of the Scriptures and things you're taught in church, but if you don't really know God personally, you are missing out big time! And I don't mean the 5-minute short, fast said prayers. I mean a daily, humble fellowship just with you and God: Pouring your heart to Him, praying for others, worshipping His name.
If you never spent time with your friends, you'd never know much about them. Same thing goes with God. You've got to spend time with Him to really know Him.
Spending time with God on a daily basis takes discipline. It's something you have to make a priority in your life. You may have to get up earlier than your normally do--but don't let that slow you down! Give your heart to the Lord, and make it an real effort to come into His presence every single day. He's done so much for us--tell Him how thankful you are!
James 4:8--Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you...
This verse above is the key to becoming closer to God. You have to make an effort to draw close to Him, and He will draw near to you.
Having a fellowship with God is one of the keys to becoming closer to Him, but there's more to just that...
~Ways to Become Closer to God
- First, you must be saved, and have became a new creature within Christ. There's no way to get to know a Holy God without a Saviour. You must realize that you are born a sinner, and God is the only one who can save you through His blood.
- Ask forgiveness of your sins constantly (meaning, every day or more!)
-Ask forgiveness of sin the first thing when you come in God's presence. The Bible tells us we are filthy rags. We can never be holy cause we are born as sinners, but God can forgive us and put our sinful actions in the past. So, to come in the presence of a holy God, we must clear all sins in our lives and ask our Lord to forgive us, so we can fellowship with Him in a pure, and lovely way.
- Clear your conscious, and ask forgiveness of others. Anyone who you have sinned or haven't forgave, you must seek them and ask them to forgive you. Unforgiveness leaves sin in our hearts, which will separate us from God. Plus, it will leave you bitter, angry, and unhappy.
- Be obedient to God's laws and commands. If you love God, you'll want to obey His commandments. Where do we find God's commands? In his Word of course!
- Fellowship with God. Make it an effort, every day to spent time in God's presence.
- Read and study God's Word. The Bible is your guide to life. How will you know how to live and what God instructs for us if you're not reading it on a daily basis?
- Go to a Biblically based church.
- Fellowship with other believers.
- Be unconformed to this world. This is a biggy, that covers a wide range of subjects.
-Romans 12:2--And be not conformed to this world...
-1 John 2:15-17---Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
-You cannot choose both. You can live for God, or you can live for the world. Drawing closer to God's heart requires forsaking the world, cause like the verse says, God is not of the world.
-Being different from the world can include: the friends we have, the places we go, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the things we put into our bodies, and the list goes on and on...
- Have godly friends. It is important to have friends that are going to encourage you to grow closer to the Lord. The Bible tells us that "iron sharpest iron."
- Keep your bodies pure. Sin and unholiness takes us farther and farther from God. God commands us to be pure, and it is vital to be living a pure life if we want to be more like our Saviour. Uncleanliness is damaging and will corrupt our bodies like rust. Even though God can forgive us, it will still put scars on our lives, and it will take a while to overcome. Unpurity will put a wall between you and God and will be hard to break. It is vital we are holding our virginity as precious gifts and are waiting until marriage to give our bodies to our husbands.
Some people don't want to give their lives fully over to Christ because they don't want to make all the sacrifices. The pride of life, and selfishness of changing their ways makes them want to stay in the world. But let me tell you that giving your life over to Christ is redeeming. Sin is pleasurable only for a while. Sin is a heavy brick that grows higher and higher without a Saviour to redeem us, and will weigh the soul down until you can't get back up any more.
It's only when we fully give our lives to Christ that that brick is lifted. I'm not saying that we won't have hard times, cause that's not true, but your life is renewed, and your life has meaning. Joy, love and peace flow through your soul, and you have purpose! And the laws God gives us, our eyes are opened up that they are not given to us because God wants to take away our fun, but as a loving Father He wants to protect you from things that can harm you. And as we grow in love with our Saviour, we start wanting to obey and please Him because of what He has done for us, and because we want to become more like Him.
Being a Christian is so worth-while because of the fact we can fellowship with our Lord. There's nothing more satisfying and more fulfilling than growing closer to God's heart. If you feel like your Christian walk is dull and you feel like your life is nothing different from the world, I would encourage you to pursue the Lord like you never have. Fall on your knees in His presence and seek His guidance to your life...Before long, He will be more than just your Holy King and loving Father, but will also become your best, trusting friend.
Helpful ideas for growing in the Lord:
- Start a daily devotion with God. First thing in the morning is always best, cause a busy schedule will always put it on the back burner. Start your day first off with spending time with God.
- Pray on your knees. This is a humbling way to come before the Lord, and a way of saying, "I am only a piece of sand compared to you, God. You are holy, and I surrender to you."
- Pray out loud.
- Keep a prayer journal so you can remember prayer requests and things you would like to bring before the Lord.
- Have direction in your Bible reading. When we come to our Bible reading thinking, "What should I read today??" and just flip to any part of the Bible, this leads to an unorganized Bible reading. It's so much better to know what you will be reading. I suggest you put bookmarks in chapters you would like to read (i.e. one in the Old Testament, and one in the New, or several in each) to read the whole chapters. That way, you can get the whole context of the Scripture text and know where you're going in your reading.
Comments
Apr. 11, 2007 - GREAT POST!!
Posted by SuperAngel
That was so wonderful!! Keep up the great work!!
Love
!!SUPERANGEL!! !!Amanda!!
Dec. 29, 2008 - The
Posted by Anonymous
Thank you. Sometimes I fall out of line. But I wanna stay consistent with faith and continue to grow
Jan. 16, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
I have listened to your advice on how to grow closer to god,and every single day i thank the lord on how he guided me to this website,and how hes in your heart and helped you to write this.i am soo blessed to have read this.im starting new today and following your advice,cause i want to grow closer to god,and stop being selfish.thank you soo much!God bless you!
-Summer
Jun. 3, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
thanku for that wonderful article :)
Aug. 23, 2009 - Great!
Posted by Anonymous
That was an amazing post! It really helped me out. Thank you so much for the encouragement and guidance. God bless!
