THREE STEPS in deepening your relationship with God
Once you have a relationship with God, it’s important to find ways to sustain it.
SEEK and FIND HIM
Seek Him.
Seek Him, but let Him lead you.
Seek Him, but let Him find you.
“Come near to God and He will come near to you.” – James 4:8
He’s there, you just have to make the effort to find Him, a call to action, so to speak, and sometimes that’s what’s hard for us. Seeking is the first step, but “finding” is where you’ll bask in His glory and grace.
Whether you have a limp in your gait or you’re postured in strength, bring both what discourages you and what brings you joy with you on your journey. Yes, it truly is a journey, it’s not something that just happens without effort, but the journey is where your life changes, where the blessings come, where you pick up both the struggles and the strengths that make you. Rest in this.
He molds us and shapes us, bends us and breaks us, if we let Him, all the while He’s strengthening our relationship with Him. You may have been closer to God, and you moved, you walked away, He didn’t. It’s ok, so give yourself grace. He’s still there waiting, anticipating your return.
Take a step, one step, back to Him.
He wants you to bring Him what you have and what you are, and let Him refine you. He’s not worried or anxious of what you’ve become, who you are now, or how you got there. He’s there, like a parent is close to their child, they spend time together, not because they have to, but because they want to, and in this closeness, they learn about each other and build an intimacy that can’t be replaced by anyone else.
You may find in this journey that you may not have to move at all to find Him. You may just need to be still, and find Him where you are. Rest where you are, in the stillness, bask in it, and feel His presence. Close your eyes, tune out the world and all its noise and just dwell.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Seek Him through prayer, and make your prayers personal. Posture yourself to pray, head bowed into hands, heart on knees with the only sound being your heartbeat and breath. Whenever and wherever you pray, you have a captive audience. You never have to ask if He’s busy, or available…
He always will be.
Our words pierce Him, and it’s ok to pray like a child. The power of our prayers is in the One who receives them, not in us who pray them. Be specific, tell Him what you’re thinking, and what you need, He already knows, He’s just waiting to hear you beckon Him. He longs to satisfy His children, but it’s not always immediate and this is when we learn to trust Him, in the wait. So, pause and listen for His answer.
Don’t overthink it, and don’t make it harder than it is, and if your mind wanders, pray for the things it wanders to, there’s a purpose in Him bringing your attention there.
Praying shouldn’t be hard, so just lay your words in His Hands.
He wants our prayers to just be like we’re talking to Him, like a child would talk to their father, because we are. Speak to Him audibly, whisper or shout, or just hold your words in, He hears them just the same.
In a normal relationship, if you knew the other person adored you, sought you, wanted to be near you and spend cherished time with you, it wouldn’t be hard to reciprocate. Make it easy, make it normal, and see how easy it’ll be.
Find a personal place or space, that fits your needs to have quiet time with Him. While I love starting my day with Him…
you do you.
You don’t have to be like everyone else, especially when it’s something that’s as important as this. You dictate the amount of time, it’s your time, but maybe begin slowly: you, Him, a Bible, journal, coffee, music or total quietness. The amount of time doesn’t matter, it’s what happens in those moments that’s important. Find a specific time that is best for you, for your family, that’ll be easy to meet, regularly, but if you skip…
give yourself grace.
Ask Him to help you in your endeavor and He will, and hopefully you can be successful more times than you aren’t.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you
and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous Hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
Find Him.
Find Him in flowers, His beauty, His creations, His moments that you live. Seek to find His blessings in each day He gifts you. If we’ll just take the time to notice what’s around us, we’ll be surprised at what’s really there. God does so many creative, fantastic things each day that go unnoticed, and I pray you make finding them part of your journey. Be the one that finds the beauty between the breaths, between the words spoken and not.
I love old churches, steeples, abandoned homes, abandoned churches, wildflowers and all sunrises and sunsets, and I love finding Him there. All of these make me feel closer to God, and when they show up spontaneously, it makes me feel like He’s that much nearer to me.
The more we spend time involved in “His” things, the stronger our relationship with Him will become, a daily life change that can definitely be…
life-changing.
REST IN HIS GRACE
In your brokenness or beauty, wrap yourself in His perfect grace, and rest in it. He doesn’t expect you to come to Him perfect…
just come.
Settle, rest, dwell, abide in Him, He’s got you.
Remember the next time you feel alone, worried, stressed or anxious, that you’ve got a partner, a friend, a Father, willing and capable of bearing all your weight. He bore the weight of the cross, He can certainly bear any weight you give Him…
so do.
His grace is free, there for the taking, wildly available for you, so take it when needed. Sometimes the more we try to do something, the harder it is and the more we fail, but that’s ok…
remember, you’re trying.
It’s a daily commitment, that if you’ll commit to, He’ll find you every time.
Start today.
Close your eyes and just find Him in this moment. Nothing more, nothing less. Even if you feel far away, totally out of control, unworthy and incapable, He’s got you.
Fall in His Arms, it’s a great start.