You feel it!
You’ve been feeling it inside for a while, but life gets so loud that you can’t really hold onto it.
You try and try but you feel like you can’t stay focused long enough!
You want to get to know God more!
You want to include Him in more than just your Sunday morning or your prayer at the Thanksgiving dinner table!
You try to commit to reading a certain amount of verses, but you can’t commit to keeping that up everyday!
You try to pray every night, but your prayers are sounding like you are reading off of a script.
That is a lot of pressure to put on yourself…
I know this because I have done and sometimes still do the same thing to myself!
No more!
It’s just distracting us from the point of this journey and
it makes what should be like falling in love,
Look more like earning the approval of your boss!
Take a breath.
Let’s take it slow.
I’m with you in this!
First, we do need to realize one thing, before we apply any of these things to our life!
Without this, we will not see good results!
We need to realize that if we are adding time with God into our lives, our goal has to be established!
We need to understand our why, because our why will directly determine the quality of our relationship with God!
If your goal is to be a good Christian, good person, be involved with more Christians, earn approval from God or even people, you may not be in the right headspace to get the best from applying the following things to your life!
I’m not trying to discourage you from pursuing God, I just truly want you to reap the best from your efforts!
And to reap good fruit,
You have to plant seed on good ground!
So, by telling you to establish your why, I’m basically asking you to make sure that you start this journey by checking the soil you’re about to plant these seeds into!
Does that make sense?
You see, if our why is solely to know God more and spend more time with Him, then we are about to plant these seeds on good soil!
Now, let’s see the ways we can spend more time with God!
Pray Casually
“pray without ceasing,”
I Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV
Obviously, prayer keeps us connected to God, but I am talking about more than the prayer we say before bed.
I am talking about praying to Him in small, transitional moments.
When you wake up, greet Him.
When you’re on your way to school or work, talk to Him and ask Him to walk beside you as you face the unexpected.
When you’re on your way to an interview, meeting or anything that you may be nervous about, before you enter the room, talk to God! Invite Him into the situation and ask Him for help if you feel the situation is beyond your ability.
When you are working out, ask Him for strength to keep going even when your muscles are sore.
“Pray without ceasing” doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be praying and never just talking to people or singing.
It should let us know that we don’t have to wait until we are in a certain place, in a certain position, at a certain time!
We have the freedom to talk to God everyday, at any moment we choose!
So let’s enjoy every moment that we can just start a conversation with God!
Read His Word
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
II Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV
The Bible is from God.
When we spend more time in God’s word, God’s heart is known more to us!
It’s like reading a love letter from the one you love.
Even if you are not face to face with the one you love, just reading their words makes you closer to them, because their heart is poured out in their words.
The scriptures are God’s love letter to us, except He is not distant when we receive the letter, He helps us to understand His words in ways we usually can’t.
He reveals His heart through His word and the more we read His word, the more we grow closer to God.
God has His love letter written for us to read everyday!
But how close will we be to someone if we only read their love letter every once in a while or only at Christmastime?
God doesn’t demand that we read a whole chapter a day or that we read for two hours everyday.
If you want to do that, that’s awesome, but there really is no requirement!
Again think about if you were reading love letters from a person you love.
The more of those letters you read and the more often you read them, the closer you feel to that person.
You learn their heart and you start to feel the love written on the paper!
It’s a process though!
You can’t try and keep up with a standard because you won’t really reap the beauty of reading God’s words towards you.
Remember your why and just take a step!
Maybe that looks like starting a Bible plan on the Bible App, reading a devotional or maybe just start by reading one verse a day!
How I started was writing down, on a piece of paper, some verses that were impactful to me at the time. I would carry that piece of paper around and read them randomly throughout the day!
Another way I started getting into God’s word everyday, was studying sermons everyday.
I would take my notebook and write down anything that impacted me from a Transformation Church, Elevation church, or Fresh Life Church sermon.
That, I did for about a year and I got so hungry for God’s word, that I started to spend that time reading God’s word and taking notes on what I read, instead of studying a sermon.
This may not look like how you want to start getting into God’s word, but that’s okay!
Just start putting God’s word into your day, in some way, and you will see a huge difference!
Step Out in Faith
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
II Corinthians 5:7 NKJV
I like to call this,
“Do Things Just for God!”
Yes, talking to God in prayer and hearing His voice through the scriptures are excellent ways of spending more time with God; however, there is nothing like actually applying God’s word.
Doing something just for God is choosing to do something extra, only because you want to spend that time depending on Him and doing the things you know delight His heart.
For example,
If you are taking a walk and you are tired, but you decide to go around the block, one more time; focusing on doing it for God and depending on His strength.
You could drive past the good parking space you found, and let the driver behind you, who is looking for a parking space too, take it. Doing something only for God, even if you have to keep looking for a spot, having faith that God is faithful.
Maybe even, doing some work around the house, that someone in your family would normally took care of. Loving people with action, not because they deserve it but because you know that you can step out and show God’s love in a small way, just for God.
You could really do this in any way, no matter how small!
Listen to the Holy Spirit when He puts something on your heart; something you could do to trust God more and see Him do something in your heart and in your life!
Don’t just talk to God and read His word, let Him show you in your everyday life, how His word is true and applicable to your day and see Him show you that He heard your every prayer!
Remember this!
As much as you want to try and spend some more time with God, know that He is dying to spend time with you!
As much as you want to know Him a little more, please know that your desire is because God put that on your heart!
He wants to spend time with you!
He loves you so much and He gave everything just to spend time with you!
So, when you’re ready, try practicing these three things, and I promise that you will see a deepening in your relationship with God!
Photo by Tara Winstead
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
