How to grow closer to God
How to grow closer to God
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
James 4:8
Although I have an intimate relationship with the Lord now, I strongly remember the seasons in my life where I did not. I have been Christian my whole life. My parents started reading the bible to me when I was in my mother’s womb. So there was never really a time where I did not know about God. However, there is a difference between knowing about God and actually knowing God. I’m not going to say that my whole relationship with God was a lie. I definitely experienced some deeply personal and intimate moments with Him growing up. I prayed and read my bible religiously. But once I got older I realized true intimacy is not just checking prayer and scripture off of your to do list. It is being real and vulnerable with the Lord. It is also including Him in every area of our lives.
Once I hit my teenage years I started to move towards a sinful lifestyle and was rebellious towards God. To the rest of the world I still looked and acted like a “good girl.” However, I knew in my spirit I was living wrong and had become lukewarm.
I started to reconnect with God and deepen my intimacy with Him when I graduated college in 2017. My intimacy really went to another level when I decided to partake in a Daniel Fast in 2020. I believe this is what really changed things for me, breaking some chains and allowing me to experience God’s blessings and presence on a deeper level.
There is a famous quote that says, "If you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done." I believe this is true and it is no different when it comes to our faith. Sometimes we need to do something radical to experience transformation! The Daniel Fast I joined was outside of my comfort zone and I never did it before. But it brought a lot of transformation to my spiritual walk.
In my quest to become closer to God, I sought out a lot of guidance. I looked up sermons, scriptures, sought out mentors, surrounded myself with a godly community, read biblically based books and worshipped/prayed often because I craved the Spirit of the Lord.
All my labor was not in vain and God honored the seeds I sowed. Now I would love to help you grow closer to God so you can experience a blossoming relationship with Him.
Total Dependence on God
You have probably heard the saying, “you need to be totally dependent on God.” If I am being honest these words used to intimidate me. The reason for this is because I did not fully trust God to always come through and because I am a pretty self-sufficient person, so I did not like the idea of being totally dependent on God. If I am being even more honest, I still don’t. Well, my flesh doesn’t. It’s uncomfortable to be 100% dependent on anything or anyone. But if we are to be, there is nothing and no one more worthy of our trust than the Lord! He has and will never fail us. Even when we think He has, we can always look back and see He did not. Being totally dependent on Him does not mean we sit back and let God do everything. It means that we include Him in every area of our lives. Sometimes even down to what we wear! You build intimacy with someone when you let them in. It is no difference with God. Be honest, transparent and vulnerable with Him. Vent to Him, pray to Him, cry out to Him. Give Him everything and watch what He does with it!
Obedience is better than sacrifice
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22
You have probably heard the term “obedience is better than sacrifice.” This is true because it is written in scripture! (see above). To continuously obey the voice of the Lord is how we experience closeness with Him. It is just like a parent and a child. When a child is constantly rebellious, this child and parent won’t be able to experience a fruitful relationship. The same goes for the parent. If both are not willing to be obedient to the terms of the relationship little to no intimacy will be experienced. When we are disobedient to the Lord, we risk not experiencing a healthy and intimate relationship with Him. This is because sin separates us from God. The Lord is gracious and kind, but if we want to really feel close to Him and experience Him, we need to walk in obedience. This is better than random sacrifices that we do when we feel bad and want to feel close to God for the moment. In order to build lasting intimacy we need to take heed to his commands and His voice.
Read and pray daily
Pray without ceasing
1 Thessalonians 5:17
In order to grow closer to God we need to read and pray daily. Now, I know some days will be missed because that’s life. But I have come to realize that when we read our bibles and pray, we hear from God! This is so simple that we underestimate how powerful it is. But God speaks to us through the bible! If we want to be closer to the Lord we need to speak to Him and listen to Him. Here is a guideline for spending time with God if you’ve feel stuck in a rut or do not know where to start -
30 for 30
10 minutes of worship
10 minutes of prayer
10 minutes of scripture
I did this for a whole year straight after completing the Daniel Fast. Sometimes order and structure are best when trying to achieve a goal. Although this is a spiritual goal of growing closer to the Lord, we can still apply practical tools to achieve it.
Remain in Godly community
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psalm 1:1
Lastly, I strongly recommend surrounding yourself with godly community. I have experienced immense transformation from consistent fellowship with other believers. The bible says that iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17). When we pour into others and allow ourselves to be poured into, we experience closeness with the Lord in such a unique and beautiful way.
If you have any tips or advice on how to grow closer to the Lord, please take the time out to leave it below!